Innocent: Spencer Reid ✔️

{31} Light

t h i r t y o n e . o n e
S p e n c e r
5 0 h o u r s

It has been a tiring two days at the BAU, anxiously awaiting Joshua and Thomas' next call. We still have 22 hours to find out where they could be, but we are hopeless. We have nothing. It's like the only thing that even proves their existence is the phone calls, and even they are brief.

"Spencer, can I talk to you for a second?" Hotch calls me out of the conference room towards his office. I follow him and stand awkwardly by the door until he invites me in. "Come in." He says, gesturing with his hand for me to come in, and shut the door. He shuffles with his files as I take a seat on the couch placed against a wall.

"How are you? And Averlyn, she's been quiet." This is about Avery. I can tell when Hotch starts the conversation with somebody that isn't here, it's about them.

"She's okay, sir. Making sure she doesn't go off the rails." Though it's intended as a joke, it doesn't come across as one. "Is everything okay, sir?"

"Spencer we have less than 24 hours to find this girl, and you and I both know Averlyn is hiding something." I dump my satchel down next to me.

"Avery." I correct before I can even think about biting my tongue. He looks up from his desk and slightly raised his eyebrows. He's not amused. Neither am I. For once I don't feel like being questioned about my girlfriend. "Sorry, continue." I hang my head, scared that if I even glance once in the wrong direction, I'm getting yelled at, or fired.

"I know that you and Avery are very close-."

"We are a couple." I state, feeling my heart beat faster than usual. I should just keep quiet. Hotch nods, placing his files down to the left of him. He means business—if I don't get fired or suspended after this I'll scream in delight. "Sorry, sir it's just...I know that something is wrong and I'd like it a lot if you could just say it." I mutter, resting my elbow on my knee as I wait for Hotch to continue.

"You're a couple—yes. I need you to get out of her whatever she's hiding. It's extremely vital that we find it out." He says, tucking in his chair underneath his desk. He wants me to play interrogator. With my girlfriend.

"I can't do that." I say, immediately shaking my head at his suggestion.

"And why is that?" Because she trusts me and I'm not ready to break that trust on what could be one of the last days I see her.

"Joshua and Thomas are planning their endgame. I'm not losing Avery with the idea that she will never trust me again in my mind. If I question her now, she'll go against all our wishes and plan her own way out of things. I'm not breaking down our trust that I've worked so hard to get." I explain, "sir."

"Spencer this information is vital. If you do not at least try I will be forced to remove you and Averlyn from this case and possibly charge Averlyn for withholding information." I scowl discreetly, my fists clenching. "Neither of us want that to happen."

"Is that a threat, Hotch?"

"It is an order. We need this information and if it isn't to save your girlfriend—it's to save an innocent woman from being killed, do you understand?" His voice is bold, and I realise now how scary Hotch can actually be sometimes.

"If this information is so important, Avery would have told-."

"Do you understand, Reid?" He raised his voice, everything around us falling silent.